Mixed Bag - Life, Knitting and Diet Info

Hi everyone! I've missed you. I miss the connection when I go a week without posting. Whew! It's been a busy, crazy and stress-producing week.

Knitting: As you can see, the Ocean Waves "Not A Poncho" is growing. It's now 22 inches wide and 14 inches in length. It's grown a bit in a week. I'm still getting used to doing the Intarsia thing. And don't worry, I won't bore you with photos of it every week.

Life Events Update: Anyway, back to the weekend and a kinder, gentler it's soon going to be SPRING reality. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to spring this year. Though I normally favor Fall and Winter, at about this time EVERY year I think "enough already," especially because March can be a cold, blustery month with a lot of wind, hail and weird tornado warnings, all of which we've had this past week! Since my "Baby Car" lives outside in our driveway, I actually tried to cover it with blankets one hail-filled night. Weird weather. And that blowing, cold, nasty wind gets on my nerves, but I guess March is a transition month, and transitions are growing times, which are not alway pleasant. Suffice it to say, the Baby Car did not get hail damage in spite of the fact that the blankets and tarps blew off from the wind and I ended up with a bunch of sopping wet blankets. Luckily the hail was only pea-sized so it did no major damage.


Fitness Report: On a happy, very satisified note, I've been on the Weight Watchers "Core" program for a week and I've lost 3.2 pounds - yay!!! And my Mom joined with me yesterday, so we're both going to be on Core Plan together and cheer one another on.


The Core Plan is wonderful and makes me feel so GOOD! Really good. I've been eating lots of veggies this week, lots of chicken and fish and not much red meat. Also lots of water. Agh, yeah that too. The WW Veggies soup recipe that is in Week One is a filling way to get in your veggies. Since this week has been so cold, I've kept a bowl of it at work and at home with me constantly. When I leave work to take the hour-long commute on the highway, I eat a small bowl of that Veggie soup before I get in my car. Instead of being famished when I get home that way, I am calm enough to eat what I planned to eat - the healthy stuff. The main thing is, I'm not allowing myself to eat emotionally, but only out of real hunger. That's a big thing for me!!!


Sanity Saver: I'm starting a new feature here called "Sanity Saver" where I share the tips, products and suggestions of things I've tried this week and have worked well for me. I won't share one of these EVERY time I blog, because I'm not always sane, sometimes no tool, no matter how great, saves my shredded mind. But today we have not one but TWO sanity saving items to share. One is: Diet Lipton Green Tea with Citrus. I use this as a reward to myself when I have finished downing the 64 oz of water per day that Weight Watchers requires.


Lynn and Elysbeth both shared really great tips with me just the other day under the Comments. To remind myself of it, and to see if you want to give it a whirl, I'm posting their comments again here (hope you ladies don't mind):


Lynn says: Figure out as many comfort things you can do for yourself, and substitute those. I love hot baths, but my biggest one is hot tea. If I have tea I feel spoiled and I am putting something into my mouth. Works for me, you'll find your own thing.


At 4:09 AM, Elysbeth said…
Seconding the hot tea tip. I treated myself to a wide variety of Republic of Tea bags, and it's like a little sanity treat. When I am at work you have to go the basement to get water for a cup of tea, so I go down, get it all in a little thermos, maybe with some lemon honey, and then walk up 3 or 4 flights of stairs, then back down to the first floor where I work. Moving like that relieves stress, tightens the fanny, revs the metabolism, takes 7 minutes (less than my smoking co-workers take on break), and I have tea perfectly ready when I get back to the lab. You can do it.


It's funny that their comments hit me at a time when I've been considering cutting back, way back, on coffee and seeing if tea will make me feel more serene. Coffee is one of the most enjoyable rituals in my life, but I'm thinking about changing it up a bit by substituting it with hot tea for a while. The reasons are many - and maybe I'll cover those in another blog entry. But the main thing is, I'm feeling pretty addicted to caffeine lately, especially coffee (I drink it black and consume MANY cups per day, throughout the entire day and night, yes, morning, afternoon and evening). I don't like feeling that addicted to anything. So perhaps hot tea is a good option for a while.


Question: Does anyone have any special hot teas I should try?



Home Front: It seems Ms. Em is growing up into a sophisicated young lady. Here she is looking chic:
















But then again, she still has the little girl in her. You can tell from the clothes that I snapped these two versions of her personality in the same day!